April 15, 2018 What Is it About Jesus? Equality

Finish this sentence – we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are…created equal.

And so go the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence.  The idea of equality is part of our DNA as Americans. We love the idea of equality. We teach the idea of equality.  We cherish the idea of equality.  We believe in the idea of equality.  But we don’t always practice it very well, as evidenced by the act that the grand statement in the Declaration did not, at the time, extend to all people.

Last week I began a new series of messages titled What Is It About Jesus?  In this series we are examining the qualities that made, and continue to make, Jesus such a tremendously compelling figure.  Last week we talked about the quality of love, and how the love of Jesus was demonstrated through his practice of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  This week we are looking at the way Jesus treated everyone with equality, and how that equality was manifested in three ways – equal standing before God, equal need before God, and an equal decision before God.

Our Scripture text for today is the calling of Matthew as related in Mark’s gospel.

Mark 2:13-17 –

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.

14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The struggle for equality is the story not only of our nation, but all nations across the span of history.  Thomas Jefferson was exactly right when he said that we are created equal, but after our creation that equality often, unfortunately, comes to a screeching halt. 

What Jesus offered is –

Equal Standing Before God.

Matthew would certainly have been a surprise pick of Jesus (although it would be easy to argue that all of the disciples would have been surprise choices).  Matthew was a surprise choice because in calling him, Jesus seemed to go out of his way to pick someone who would be offensive to just about everyone.  As a tax collector, Matthew would have been universally despised.  No one enjoys paying taxes, as much as we understand that they fund important services.  Tanya and I had a tax business at one time, and I don’t recall anyone ever saying I am so happy about paying my taxes!  It was certainly true in the time of Jesus that people did not like paying taxes.  In fact, people greatly resented paying taxes and they greatly resented the people, like Matthew, who collected those taxes.  Matthew, as a tax collector for the Romans, was no doubt very much despised by the Jewish people because he worked for their Roman oppressors.  He would have been considered a traitor to his people.  To keep his Roman employers satisfied, Matthew was required to exact a high level of taxes from the people, and then he added on an extra charge in order to pay himself.  Tax collectors were notorious for overcharging people by large amounts in order to provide themselves with a very comfortable living.  Besides being an unpopular figure among the general public, Matthew was probably unpopular among the other disciples as well, as it was likely he was their tax collector.  Peter, James, and John, as fishermen, may very well have been required to pay their taxes to Matthew, and if so, I would imagine they were none too pleased to have him join their ranks as a follower of Jesus.  Perhaps one of them pulled Jesus aside and cautioned him against such a pick, saying Jesus, did you have this guy properly vetted?  What are you thinking, calling a tax collector?  How is this guy going to help our cause?  You know, don’t you, how unpopular he is.  Isn’t there someone else you could pick?  But Jesus did not choose someone different; he chose Matthew.  Whatever protestations might have been offered by the other disciples, Jesus extended his call to Matthew and, in doing so, demonstrated an important lesson about his inclusion and his view of equality.

The words of our Declaration notwithstanding, equal creation does not mean equal station, equal treatment, or equal opportunities in life.  Humanity loves to make distinctions between people, often doing so in order to exert one group’s supposed superiority over other groups.  There has always been a group, or groups, whom society designates as less than others and as less than equal.  It is an inequality based on color, which contributed to a social acceptance of slavery and still plagues us in the presence of racism.  It is an inequality that is also expressed through differences in social class, language, beliefs, religion, sexual orientation, politics, finances; the list can go on and on.  The church, seeking to live the example of Jesus, brought a sense of equality to the Roman world that was not known at that time.  In fact, that equality was a primary reason why the Christian faith spread very rapidly through the Roman Empire.  Equality was not a cherished ideal in the Roman Empire, but it certainly was within the Christian faith.  As Richard Rohr writes – it was a time when perhaps four out of five people were slaves, women were considered the property of men, prostitution was a form of temple worship, and oppression and injustice toward the poor and the outsider were the norm. Against all of this, Paul proclaims…“all of you, are sons and daughters of God, now clothed in Christ, where there is no distinction between male or female, Greek or Jew, slave or free, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28)…This was surely threatening to those with various forms of power (whose feeling of importance lies in being “higher” than others). Yet this Gospel was utterly attractive and hopeful to the 95% who were “lower” in status. It assured universal and equal dignity…in the early church where all were equals. Sociologists think this was why Christianity spread so quickly.  (From an email about Universal Dignity. Monday, April 9, 2018)

The welcoming nature of Jesus was somewhat of a two-edged sword, however.  His openness and welcome made Jesus a beloved figure to the people who were classified as “sinners.”  To the religious leaders, however, Jesus was seen in a very negative manner, and for the very same reason, because he welcomed the “sinners.”  Treating people equally made Jesus a hero to some, and a villain to others.  Because Jesus saw every person was indeed created equal and because he made himself at home with saint and sinner alike, Jesus upset the social and religious conventions of the day.

Despite the progress our society has made in terms of treating people equally, we continue to have a long way to go.  It is my hope and prayer that, as followers of Jesus, we will be on the leading edge of the change that ushers in the equality that God desires for his children.  We must not become like the religious leaders in the time of Jesus, who saw it as a religious virtue to avoid association with some people.  Faith should never be used as a tool that separates people; it should bring us closer together!

Equal Need Before God.

It was early in the ministry of Jesus that a wide gulf began to grow between him and the religious leaders, causing him to be increasingly unwelcome in the synagogues (as an example, read Luke 4:14-30 and Luke 13:10-17).  How ironic it is that Jesus, God himself in human flesh, would find himself unwelcome in the house of God!  Jesus became somewhat of an outcast at the synagogues and at the Temple, and it was primarily because of his inclusion of all people and his love for all people.  There was a gulf that grew between Jesus and the synagogue, a split between the people and institutional religion, which is not unlike today.  There are people today who feel separated from institutional expressions of faith because they have been made to feel, perhaps, that they are neither welcome nor worthy of entrance.  How sad that is. 

It was a distorted interpretation of faith that caused the religious leaders to shun the “sinners.”  They were what we now call “self-righteous.”  To be self-righteous is generally seen as someone who is pompous and arrogant, but the definition of self-righteous is, as Luke explains in 18:9, is a person confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.  To be self-righteous means, essentially, a person who believes they can earn their own salvation through a superior sense of righteousness which, in turn, makes them better than everyone else.  While such people love to differentiate between their own superior righteousness and that of others, and to find ways to show to themselves why they are better than others, the reality is that all people stand in equal need before God.  Paul writes in Romans 3:10 that There is no one righteous, not even one.  That is a very plain-spoken declaration of the fact that we all stand in equal need before God.  Whatever our successes in life, whatever our financial or educational accomplishments, whatever our social standing, we have the same spiritual need as anyone else.  We stand in equal need of God’s grace, God’s forgiveness, and God’s salvation.  As the old saying goes, the ground at the foot of the cross is level.

When Jesus spoke about the sick and the well, that it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, he wasn’t categorizing people into two different groups.  He was, actually, saying what all people in that time would have understood, and that is that all people need a doctor at some point because everyone gets sick.  No one is immune from illness; it is a universal condition among humanity.  In the same way, everyone has spiritual illnesses that need attention.  The self-righteous could not admit to or recognize their need, tragically.

An Equal Decision Before God.

Luke says that, in response to the call of Jesus to follow me, Matthew got up and followed him (verse 14).  I assume Matthew did not spend much time thinking about the call of Jesus.  He was probably, by this time, familiar with Jesus, as the fame of Jesus was already widespread, but there is no reason to think that Matthew would have had a personal encounter with Jesus before this point, certainly not anything that would make him think that Jesus would call him as one of his closets followers.  This makes it all the more remarkable, then, that Matthew simply stood up, walked away from his tax office, and followed Jesus.  Doing so was no small matter for Matthew, because in leaving his tax office he was burning his bridges with the Romans.  The other disciples – such as Peter, James, and John, who were fishermen – could have returned to their vocations to earn a living if they chose, but not Matthew.  Once Matthew walked out on the Romans they would be finished with him and would have replaced him.  In walking away, Matthew was leaving behind his livelihood, but might have still had financial obligations to the Romans, which was no small matter.

Why would Matthew take such a chance?  Why would he walk away from his vocation, placing himself at risk financially and at risk with his Roman overlords?  I believe it was because of the compelling nature of Jesus and the compelling decision Jesus placed before him.  Matthew was invited to be part of something that mattered so much – the kingdom of God.  I believe we all want to be part of something that matters, and in the invitation to be part of the kingdom of God we are offered that opportunity.  It is not necessary to be a minister or a part of what we call “full-time” Christian vocations in order to work for the kingdom of God.  God is looking for people of all walks of life to be part of his kingdom work, and there are many great opportunities in other vocations.  I think, for instance, of the work of teaching and its opportunities to shape and mold young lives.  What an opportunity teaching is!  And having mentioned teaching, allow me to add this note – being a native of West Virginia I am well aware that my home state is often at or near the bottom of most lists.  We are at or near the bottom in terms of economy, health, and many other areas.  I am very proud, however, to say that West Virginia recently topped a very important list, and that is in leading the wave of teacher response to the draconian financial measures levied against them and schools by a number of states.  I am grateful to God for the teachers who served as not only educators, but also role models, for me.  I remember them, these many years later, with gratitude and fondness.

Because of such role models, I have always wanted to be part of something that matters and something that makes a difference.  I believe the Kingdom of God is that something that makes a difference, and I think the church, as sometimes stumbling as it is and sometimes short of the mark that has been set for it, is an important part of bringing the Kingdom to others.  I believe that God has called me to the same decision placed before Matthew, and that is the decision posed by the statement of Jesus to follow me (verse 14).  It is a decision to which I responded at church camp, back in the summer of 1975, after my high school graduation.  I had for some time felt the stirring of God’s call in me and on that Friday night at church camp, long ago, I stepped forward to respond to that call.  That was the decision placed before me, and it was one that I sought to fulfill even before going into ministry.  I have not always been a minister, and in whatever vocational capacity I have served I understood that the call of God was still upon me to work for his kingdom.  That is a call that is placed before you as well, whatever your vocation.

The call of Jesus is, I believe, tremendously compelling.  It is compelling because we are extended the promise that we are equal parts of God’s kingdom and equal in our service to him.  We are people who stand before him in equal need and people who are extended an equal decision to follow him.  May we follow then, as did Matthew and as the countless others have across the ages.

April 8, 2018 What Is It About Jesus?

What is it about Jesus?

What is it about Jesus that makes him the most compelling figure in all of history?  This morning I begin a new series of messages titled What Is It About Jesus?  Coming through the Easter season I thought a good deal about how the story of Jesus is so embedded in not only our society, but in most of the world.  The coverage of Easter on the news and in so many publications reminded me that even among those who are not very religious, or not religious at all, Jesus remains a very compelling figure.  Even among those who find little or no attraction to the church, there are many who are greatly attracted to Jesus.

     

During his ministry, Jesus often attracted large crowds.  The gospels, in their stories of Jesus, often reference that crowds of people followed him wherever he went.  Why did Jesus attract such crowds?  Was it simply because people hoped for a miraculous healing, a free meal as in the feeding of the multitudes, or was there a deeper reason?  And what was there about Jesus that caused Peter, James, and John to put down their fishing nets and follow him?  Why would they step away from their livelihood and become disciples of Jesus?  What kind of person has that level of attraction?  Why was Jesus so popular among the sinners and the outcasts?  Why did they flock to hear and see him, while at the same time avoiding, for the most part, institutional religion?  Why is Jesus still such a compelling figure to so many around the world?

     

I know that the obvious answer is because he was the Son of God.  Of course, as the Son of God, Jesus would draw people to himself, but people in the time of Jesus did not have that understanding in the way we have come to understand him.  Before people had any real understanding of who Jesus was, many people were attracted to him.  Before people could grasp or understand his mission, large numbers of people followed him.  While many believed, or at least hoped, that Jesus was the Messiah, plenty of people had not yet come to that realization, but still they followed him.  The question persists today, as it has for two millennia, what is it about Jesus?

As we move through this series of messages, I will speak about passages from the gospels that offer insight into this question.  We will discover that some people were attracted to him because they were in hopes of finding physical healing either for themselves, for a friend, or loved one.  Others were attracted to Jesus because of the desire to see a miracle, or to be a beneficiary of one of those miracles, such as the feeding of the multitudes.  Others hoped to find a political leader who would lead the nation of Israel to victory over the Romans.  Beyond these reasons, however, was a combination of deeper factors that provided the foundation for the appeal of Jesus to so many people.  One of those factors was his teaching.  Matthew 7:28-29 provides an oft-repeated reaction to the teaching of Jesus – when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.  People were hungry for truth, and in his teaching, Jesus provided that truth.  Another factor was his treatment of people.  Jesus was accepting of people regardless of who they were or their station in life.  The often-repeated criticism of the religious leaders was that this man welcomes sinners and eats with them (Luke 15:2).  Many people, in the time of Jesus, were alienated from institutional religion because they did not feel accepted, but Jesus neither rejected nor barred from association with him those people whom institutional religion turned away, which won him great admiration from many.

We begin this morning with a passage from Matthew’s gospel that sets the template for Jesus’ ministry.

Matthew 4:23-25 –

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.

25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Today we will talk about the defining characteristic of the ministry of Jesus, and that is love.  The way in which Jesus expressed love is demonstrated in several different ways – mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

But before talking about those expressions of love, I first want to talk about some of my own faith story and why Jesus has remained so compelling to me.  Last Sunday afternoon, after the conclusion of Easter services and all the activities of Holy Week, I had the question of what is it about Jesus much on my mind.  I was preparing to watch Jesus Christ Superstar on NBC, which prompted the question of what is it about Jesus once again.  At that moment I knew I had to share at least a portion of my faith story and why I find Jesus to be so compelling.

To be honest, my faith story is not much of a story, actually.  It’s probably one of the most boring stories that you’ve ever heard.  I do not have a dramatic testimony of change and conversion.  I did not have a falling away and reawakening.  I’ve not done anything earth-shaking.  I’ve not preached to thousands nor have I baptized scores of people.  The biggest thing, I suppose, is that I do my best to show up every day.  I’ve done my best to show up for my family and my church, and to do what God would have me to do.

My faith was shaped by many people, certainly my parents among them, and by others who served as role models for me.  Bill Norris, who was the minister at my home church from the time I was in the fifth grade and into my college years was very influential to me.  I have spoken of Reverend Norris before, but as I am speaking about my faith story it is important to mention him again.  My first week at college Reverend Norris gave me some very important advice.  Reverend Norris was a trustee of Milligan College, where I attended, and as I was walking across campus one evening he caught up with me and offered me that advice, advice I have never forgotten.  He told me that I was now on my own, and being on my own I would discover that my faith had been dependent upon other people, such as my parents.  They made sure I attended church and reminded me to take my faith seriously, but now that I was on my own it was up to me to nurture my faith and to make it my own.  At first, I was a bit offended at what Reverend Norris said, because I believed that I was not dependent upon others in any way for my faith, but in actuality, I was.  His words of advice came to be very important to me, coming at a critical juncture in my life, and helped to guarantee that faith would remain at the center of my life.  Bob Mack, of whom I have also spoken, was equally influential in my life.  Bob was the director at Elkhorn Valley Christian Service Camp in Bergholz, Ohio, where I spent many weeks of my summers as a young person.  Bob also preached at my ordination service and had one of the most dramatic life changes of anyone I have ever known.  I still remember the day he told me about his life before he came to faith, which was so different that I could not imagine it was the same person.  As my faith story was so ordinary and boring, I remarked to Bob one day that I wished I had a more dramatic story.  His words were important to me, as he said that my story was just as important as anyone else’s, and for young people, it was important for them to know it was possible to make it through adolescence without succumbing to many of the temptations that confronted us.  I have always appreciated the way Bob made me look at my story differently from the way I had previously understood it.

Though my story is not at all dramatic, I have spent a great deal of time over the years thinking about faith and what it means to me.  I have also read and studied a lot, working to deepen my faith and to understand more about the mysteries of faith.  I have also listened a lot to the stories of others, and I have learned from them.  I have debated a lot as well, discussing – and sometimes arguing – with others about various interpretations, theology, and other matters.  I have tried to help others who have struggled with faith, and I have had very interesting conversations with people who have no faith or are opposed to faith.  Through it all, I can say that Jesus has been the compelling figure of my life, and I cannot imagine life without that very powerful connection.

With that as a longer-than-normal introduction, now I will move on to the love of Jesus, and the way he expressed that love.  Love provided the foundation for everything Jesus said and did, and was and is foundational to who he is.  Love, as are the other elements of the life and ministry of Jesus that we will study in the coming weeks, was non-negotiable to Jesus.  To be his follower, these elements must be a part of our lives as well.

Mercy

We live in a culture that seems to be losing its sense of mercy.  We have become so harsh, or maybe, because of the prevalence of social media, we are just more aware of the harshness that was already there.  The world is, and always has been, a harsh place, and because of this, we are in great need of mercy.

Jesus was astounding in his sense of mercy.  The gospels are full of stories and examples of the mercy of Jesus.  There are a few examples that I always turn to, one being the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).  Zacchaeus was not a popular person in the city of Jericho.  As a tax collector, he made his living and built his fortune from taking advantage of others.  Luke tells us that Zacchaeus climbed into a sycamore tree because he was short, but I believe it was also because the crowd was most likely not inclined to let him into a position where he could see Jesus passing by.  Jesus showed mercy to Zacchaeus, and I imagine the crowd was not much inclined to appreciate the mercy.  Mercy, you see, is not always a popular gift to offer, because we want to determine who we believe is worthy of mercy.  Mercy, however, is a gift that Jesus will offer whether or not we agree.  Jesus also showed mercy to the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53 – 8:11).  This is one of the most famous passages in the gospels, and one of the most dramatic as well.  In it, Jesus confronts those who want to see the punishment of stoning meted out on this woman.  There was no sense of mercy among them, tragically.  In keeping to the letter of the law, mercy was lost, and that is a very important lesson for us today.  There are those in some corners of the church world that become so wedded to the letter of the law that they lose any sense of mercy.  Like the scribes and the Pharisees, they become a theological version of Barney Fife, so insistent upon following the letter of the law that everyone ends up in jail and mercy is absolutely forsaken.  Another examples is the woman who anointed Jesus with ointment and was harshly condemned for doing so (John 12:1-50).  Her critics pointed out that the ointment could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor.  The fact that they had not done so already proved they were neither as concerned for or merciful toward the poor as they claimed to be.  Then there is the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35).  In this parable, Jesus tells of a servant who owed a huge debt to his master.  Demonstrating mercy, his master forgives him of the debt, but the servant, instead of learning the lesson of mercy, goes to another servant who owes him a small debt and threatens him if he does not offer immediate payment.  The other servants, outraged by this behavior, report the behavior to their master, who calls in the unmerciful servant and has him thrown into prison until he can repay his debt.  We can go on and on, but the point is that the gospels are full of examples of the mercy of Jesus.

Mercy is what we might call a pass-through gift.  If you are familiar at all with accounting, you will understand the concept of pass-through.  Tanya has an accounting degree and worked in that field for a number of years and pass-through was a concept that she could never get me to understand.  I couldn’t work her accounting calculator, as it required me to put in a number as a debit or credit when all I wanted to do was subtract 2 from 4.  It was, therefore, slightly alarming for me when Tanya wanted me to handle our family’s books.  As she worked with accounting all day, she requested that I take care of our own accounting.  I started to protest, but then I realized okay.  I can go to the music store and buy gear and no one will see the receipt except for me!  Well, pass-through is a theological concept as well as an accounting one.  Mercy must pass through us to others.  As we have received mercy from God, mercy should pass through us and into the lives of others.  And as it does, mercy also must be offered freely to everyone.  It cannot be offered only to the people to whom we have a natural affinity for or to those we like.  That’s what makes mercy so difficult; we don’t always want to offer it, but that’s what Jesus asks of us.

Grace

Grace is the other side of the same coin as mercy; they are two expressions of the same gift, and we call it amazing grace for good reason.  Grace is the heart of the gospel, and one of the most important lessons about grace is that it is undeserved.  In the eyes of God, no one has to earn grace and no one has to be found worthy or deserving of it.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes a good deal about grace.  Though the letter to the Romans can be very weighty theology, the basic message is of the free gift of God’s grace.  It is a gift, Paul says, that neither can be earned or needs to be earned.  Romans 3:20-24 says 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.  21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

And all are justified freely.  Those are very important words and they provide the foundation for the gift of grace.  The free gift of grace is a concept that is foundational to the gospel.  We are not required to earn God’s grace and we are not, then, to do anything other than offer God’s grace freely to others.

And, just as we are to allow the gift of mercy to pass through us to others, so we must also allow the gift of grace to flow through us and to others.  The pressing question becomes, then, can we be people of grace?  Grace is not easy.  Grace is, in fact, very difficult.  It is easy to find ourselves wanting to withhold grace from those we don’t feel are deserving of it or from people we simply don’t like.

Forgiveness

I have heard many, many people over the years comment that I guess I haven’t forgiven because I haven’t forgotten.  I think it is extremely unfortunate that someone wedded together the words forgive and forget.  It is not necessary to forget in order to forgive.  Nowhere in Scripture is that connection made.  Nowhere in the history of Christian theology is that connection made.  It is impossible, I believe, to forget some hurts, but just because you don’t – or can’t – forget does not mean that you have not or cannot forgive.

Forgiveness is so powerful because it not only releases the offender; it also releases the offended.  In January I read an interview that powerfully demonstrated this point.  The interview was with Rachael Denhollander, who was one of the abuse victims of Dr. Larry Nassar (Nassar was a physician affiliated with Michigan State University and the USA Gymnastics National Team doctor).  Rachael was one of the 150 victims who read victim impact statements at his trial.  Rachael and her husband now live in Lousville, where he is a student at Southern Seminary.  At the end of the interview she spoke about forgiveness, which she granted to Dr. Nassar as she read her statement.  Her words are very powerful, and very instructive and helpful as well when it comes to understanding forgiveness –

Interviewer – What does it mean to you that you forgive Larry Nassar?

Rachel – It means that I trust in God’s justice and I release bitterness and anger and a desire for personal vengeance. It does not mean that I minimize or mitigate or excuse what he has done. It does not mean that I pursue justice on earth any less zealously. It simply means that I release personal vengeance against him, and I trust God’s justice, whether he chooses to mete that out purely, eternally, or both in heaven and on earth.

I find that to be a very powerful statement.  It reminds us, first of all, that forgiveness does not mean that we gloss over the hurt and the pain that has been caused and it does not mean that we act as though nothing happened.  What it does mean is that we find release – release from a desire for vengeance and a release from the bondage of bitterness and anger that can cause such devastation to us.

After the early service, someone told me they once heard a very interesting remark about forgiveness – I know I have forgiven when the first thing I think about when I see the offender is something other than what they did to me.  I don’t think we have to get to that point in order to know that we have offered forgiveness, but it does demonstrate the release that is offered to us.

And, certainly, we have the powerful words of Jesus on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).  That is an incredible example to us.  I have to be honest and say, especially when I think about what Jesus experienced, that forgiveness would probably not be my first impulse.  That is why I need the example of Jesus, to remind me that anger and bitterness, a desire for revenge, and holding on to my hurt are not helpful in the long run.

The most powerful example of forgiveness that I have known personally took place when I saw a friend forgive someone of a horrific crime.  The devastation the family suffered was unimaginable, and though it took time to arrive at the point of offering forgiveness – and understandable so – forgiveness was offered to the perpetrator.  I have wondered over the years if I could offer forgiveness in such a circumstance.  I hope that I could, and though I know it would not be easy, I also know it would be necessary for me to do so, for my own spiritual good.

What is it about Jesus?  Well, there are so many things about Jesus that make him such a compelling figure, but most certainly it is his love, which was offered in the form of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

April 1, 2018 What Faith Can See: God. 11:00 a.m. Easter Worship

The text of the message from the 11:00 worship service on Easter Sunday - What Faith Can See: God.

Good morning, and Happy Easter!

Today is not only Easter. Can anyone else tell me what today is? That’s right; it is also April Fool’s Day. I’m certain there is more than one skeptic making a joke out of the fact that Easter and April Fool’s Day fall on the same date. I can hear it now – "the joke is on you for believing! What a fool one must be to believe such nonsense! How can you believe what you cannot see? How can you believe what cannot be measured or tested in a laboratory?"

I have a quote I want to share with you – "Seeing is not believing. Our senses can deceive us." Who do you think made that statement? Sounds like something you would hear in church, doesn’t it? Sounds like a statement right out of a sermon about faith. Actually, the quote comes from last year’s TV special, "Cosmos, "and was spoken by the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It’s interesting that a scientist (especially one who is a skeptic when it comes to faith) would make such a statement, as science is very precise about needing to see proofs and evidences (and I say that as one who is thankful for and grateful to the work of science). As far as his quote, I could not agree with Tyson more.

For the past month I have been preaching a series of messages under the theme of "What Faith Can See." The overall point of those messages has been that we are not always as perceptive as we think, we do not always see as clearly as we believe that we do, that we are not always as open-minded to truth as we believe, and we are conditioned by different forces in life to believe things that might not be true. Our eyes do indeed, at times, deceive us. Our senses do, at times, deceive us. So when someone makes a claim that faith relies too much upon things that we do not see, remind them that it is not always possible to trust what we do see.

Our Scripture text for this morning is, no surprise, one of the resurrection accounts in the gospels. We will read Luke’s recording of those events and then add on two verses at the end from Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. The text is printed in the program this morning so you can follow along.

Luke 24:1-12 and I Corinthians 1:18, 25 –

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”

8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom...

When I was in college four of us traveled to a remote location in the mountains in the far western corner of Virginia. One of our friends lived way up on a mountain and invited us to visit his home. It was far from any town, and I will never forget the winding drive up through the mountains, where the roads became more and more narrow, and we eventually passed a sign that said "End of State Maintenance," and I was fairly certain we passed one that said "End of Civilization As You Know It." We finally turned off onto a narrow dirt road and traveled through the woods and came out into a clearing, and there was his house. When I stepped out of the car the first thing I noticed was the quiet. There were no sounds of humanity – no traffic, no industry; there was nothing but the sound of nature. And then that night, wow. It was a clear night and I had never seen so many stars. It was like standing in the middle of the Milky Way and seemed as though it would be possible to reach out and touch all the stars. There was no artificial light to wash out the light of the sky. I stood on that beautiful evening, on the edge of the forest thinking, "you know, out here away from everything, caught up in the beauty of the moment, a bear could sneak out of those woods and have me for dinner and no one would ever know what happened to me." It’s true; I really did think that. But then I relaxed and realized there was so much in that night sky that I had never seen before. I had never seen stars, planets, and the Milky Way in such glory, but just because I hadn’t seen them in such detail didn’t mean it wasn’t there. I will say this as well – artificial light is certainly no match for real light.

The apostle Paul actually embraced the idea of faith as foolishness when he wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth. Paul raised the question of what is wise and what is foolish. Well, it depends on your perspective, doesn’t it? The cross, he says, is foolishness to some because that’s their perspective and their perspective doesn’t allow for any other conclusion. Not only did Paul encounter a good deal of skepticism about the resurrection, even those closest followers of Jesus expressed their share of doubt and skepticism, because their perspective did not allow them to grasp the idea of the resurrection. The women went to the tomb on the first Easter morning because they expected the body of Jesus to still be there (verse 1). When they went to the disciples to tell them of the resurrection, the reaction of the disciples was that "their words seemed to them like nonsense" (verse 11). Their perspective did not allow them to see the truth. They were absolutely convinced that the tomb could not be empty and that Jesus could not be alive because their perspective did not allow such a thing to be true. Obviously, then, our perspective matters when it comes to determining what is true and real. When you are conditioned to see the world in a particular way and when you are conditioned to believe in a certain way, we will be convinced that is the way the world works. Or does it?

What faith allows us to see is the truth of the ultimate question, which is the question of God. The perspective of faith will look around and see that God is everywhere. God is infused in everything around us. The hand of God in nature and creation will be obvious. The hand of God will be obvious in every expression of love. The hand of God will be obvious in every expression of kindness. The hand of God will be obvious in every truth of science, every work of art, and every note of music.

But for some, doubt continues to persist. For some, belief in the resurrection will continue to be foolish. But what is wise and what is foolish? Is it always as clear as we believe it to be? Well, let’s think of it this way. Wouldn’t it be wise to keep all of your money, saving and investing it all for your own use and security and enjoyment? Wouldn’t it be wise to be a modern version of the rich young man who built his fortune and then proclaimed that it was time to "eat, drink, and be merry!" (Luke 12:16-21). But we read about the early church, and how they had all things in common, supporting one another and those in need and that set the template for the church, so keeping everything for yourself is not so much wise as it is foolish and impoverishing. And wouldn’t it be wise to save all of your time for yourself? Why not come home from work and do what you want to do, and keep your weekends for yourself rather than giving up that precious time? But there are people that need some of our time. There are people in hospitals and nursing homes who need us to be there for them, there are neighbors who are lonely, there are kids who need role models, there are Sunday School classes that need to be taught, youth groups to be lead, people who have no family nearby and need a family to care about them, so it is impoverishing and foolish to keep our time just for ourselves.

So faith can help us to see that we are called to live for more than just our own self-interest. And when we speak further about what faith can help us to see, there is no greater example than that of the empty tomb. Faith is what allows us to see, and believe, that the tomb is empty because Jesus was raised from the dead. It is a false claim and a false narrative that everything in life can be tested and measured and determined to be either absolutely true or patently false. Everything takes some measure of faith. Just as you cannot take a collection of scientific instruments into the tomb and expect to prove the resurrection, neither can many other parts of life be tested and measured. Can you, for instance, really prove love? If I asked you to prove to me that you love your spouse, for example, how would you do so? How do we know that love is nothing more than chemical reactions in the brain that produce within us a wonderful feeling that we call love but might only be a function of biology? How do we know that sacrificing for our family is love when it could be nothing more than some form of self-preservation? Whatever evidence you can offer for the existence of love, I can present a reason to doubt that evidence. And stop thinking right now "I sure feel sorry for his wife and kids;" I’m just presenting an argument to make my case for love and faith!

Thomas, the disciple, the one labeled, doubting Thomas, said "unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it" (John 20:24). Thomas wanted proof. People continue to ask for proof. But what is proof? One person would point to the vastness of the universe and the order in which the stars and planets move and say how could this be chance? Surely this is proof of God. Another may look at the vastness of the universe and the order in which the stars and planets move and say it’s all chance.

Faith, you see, is the willingness to take the step to receive the reality of Jesus. It is choosing to believe; it is choosing to see. For all of my life I have believed. There have been doubts along the way, and a whole lot of questions. I have come to the point in life, however, when I no longer need to have every doubt assuaged or every question answered. For me, the resurrection is a reality that supersedes any question or doubt I might have, and the reality of the resurrection is all I need as the basis of my faith.

Francis Collins is the Director of The National Institutes of Health. He is a world-renowned scientist who also directed The Human Genome Project, which mapped the human genome. As one who has been on the cutting edge of science for years, he writes that he was raised in a family where faith "just wasn’t important" (The Language of God, Francis S. Collins, page 11). As he grew older he became an agnostic and then moved into what he described as confrontational atheism, writing that "I felt quite comfortable challenging the spiritual beliefs of anyone who mentioned them in my presence, and discounted such perspectives as sentimentality and outmoded superstition" (page 16).

And then one day, as he sat and talked with a hospital patient who was suffering with untreatable heart disease, the patient asked him what he believed. In spite of all his training in science and medicine, the only reply he could manage was "I’m not really sure" (page 20). The patient’s question began to haunt him and he decided that as a scientist it was his duty to examine the question of faith, so he set out on a spiritual quest.

After studying all of the major world religions he still wasn’t sure what he believed, so he walked down his street to visit a Methodist minister who lived in his neighborhood, and asked the minister whether faith made any logical sense. The minister listened and then gave him a book to read. The book was "Mere Christianity," by C. S. Lewis, the legendary Oxford scholar who had once been an atheist but came to faith while trying to disprove faith (page 21). The arguments of Lewis were very convincing to Collins, and writing of the gap between belief and unbelief he says, "for a long time I stood trembling on the edge of this yawning gap. Finally…I leapt" (page 31).

Francis Collins moved from disinterest in faith to hostility towards faith and finally to embracing faith. What changed his way of seeing faith? Why did he see faith in a different way? There were spiritual and intellectual arguments that he considered, but it came finally to the question of what would he see?

What do you see in the empty tomb? I believe that when we look into the empty tomb we see God. We see God, the creator of heaven and earth and all things and the God who became one of us in the person of Jesus and who lived, died, and was resurrected. He is risen! He is risen indeed!